Monday, May 5, 2008
Blog 1
"That's the spirit I like!"cried the Director, and clapped Mr. Foster on the shoulder. "Come along with us, and give these boys the benefit of your expert knowledge." From this quote the reader can infer that these men: Mr. Foster and the Director, know that they are very smart in the world that they live in. Throughout the book we see that Huxley portrays all of his characters as all knowing, and they classified accordingly. I believe that Huxley was a “know it all”, loves to be right, and had a great time proving people wrong. The ideas and situations that people face in Brave New World will be faced not to long from now. The director refers to Mr. fosters “Expert knowledge” as benefits to the boys. I believe that this is not the expert knowledge, because nature has its course, and should take it, but we as humans are interfering with this course. I believe this will result in something bad happening to our world, whether it is extinction of humans, emotional breakdown of worlds population, or physical deformities from this scientific discovery. So overall I do not believe in this book, because something will happen to the human race for interfering with nature’s course. I also believe that Huxley is correct in saying that Mr. foster has knowledge, but not expert knowledge.
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3 comments:
"That's the spirit I like!"cried the Director, and clapped Mr. Foster on the shoulder. "Come along with us, and give these boys the benefit of your expert knowledge." This quote is an excellent portrayal of Huxley's view on humans strive for knowledge. The way Huxley describes this seemingly utopian society is clearly just satire to expose the harsh realities that comes with a strive for a utopian society. Huxley says the above quote to show the human strive for perfection and a sense knowing all the answers. In reality, these characters think they have mastered perfection, but have only come up with ways to mock perfection. This expert knowledge of conditioning might appear to make the people perfect and happy, but as the rest of the book shows, no one is truly happy. By conditioning the entire society, they are just trying to mask nature and fate. While it seems like this can be done from an exterior view, it is completely impossible. All this does is create internal conflict which in return causes conflict between the people. While this society tries to create fate, this is entirely and utterly impossible, no soma or conditioning can change that.
I agree with Christopher's theory on interference with nature's course. If we tamper with the natural process of birth and caring for a child, the human race will soon crumble and not survive itself. We've already have caused enough destruction on the world we live in. We were given a garden and gave back a parking lot. The problem is, like Chris said, the character's tendency, as well as many people in real life, to think they know everything, when in actuality, we know very little besides what it is to be a human. In conclusion I don't think this book could work out in modern society.
I agree with Christopher on this issue. If you eliminate imperfection in society, then the characteristic of uniqueness disappears. I also agree with Christopher on the topic of the removal of all imperfect characteristics. This could lead to physical deformity and changed social standards.
Though some can argue that Mr. Foster has “[expert] knowledge,” some can also interpret that as the mindless following of society’s standards, particularly for Alpha/Alpha Plus males.
The theory that Mr. Foster has expert knowledge is simply outrageous. He is able to reiterate and practice what society teaches him. Mr. Foster, the Director of Hatcheries and Conditioning, is an Alpha Plus – the highest possible caste of society. He was conditioned from birth to feel and be the best. Just because of the way Mr. Foster was conditioned, he was raised as an elite member of society. Mr. Foster’s job, the Director of Hatcheries and Conditioning, really requires no experience and is merely a managerial position that involves practically no thought.
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